"Somebody had to pay the price for what Epstein did, and so the government and the media chose her,” Ian Maxwell said of his sibling, a convicted child sex trafficker
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NEED TO KNOW
- Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother Ian Maxwell claims that she is a “scapegoat” for Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes
- In an interview published Feb. 20, Ian also said he believes that Ghislaine “is on the right side of history”
- Ghislaine is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence following a sex trafficking conviction in 2021, which she is attempting to have overturned
Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother is standing by her while claiming that she has become the “fall guy” for Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
In a new interview with The Telegraph published Friday, Feb. 20, Ian Maxwell, the older brother of the British socialite and Epstein co-conspirator, opened up about his ongoing mission to free Ghislaine from prison. (She is serving a 20-year sentence following a sex trafficking conviction in 2021.)
Ghislaine, 64, is “a scapegoat” for the crimes of Epstein, Ian, 69, told the outlet, adding that he believes his sister is “on the right side of history.”
“My sister is the fall guy. Somebody had to pay the price for what Epstein did, and so the government and the media chose her,” said the British businessman, per The Telegraph. “I genuinely believe that if Epstein were alive, he would be incarcerated and she would be free.”
Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019, as he was set to face federal sex trafficking charges.
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Back in 2020, Ian found out that his younger sister was arrested by the FBI while watching the news.
“They sent in a helicopter and 20 armed agents, as though she were a menace to society. It was unbelievable, totally shocking,” he recalled to The Telegraph. “That was the moment my sister became a scapegoat for the dreadful crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein.”
Ian added that the trial for Ghislaine “wasn’t fair, and her conviction isn’t safe.”
“Ghislaine has done nothing wrong, and the length of her conviction is outrageous," he told the British outlet.
"You have a situation where somebody like P Diddy stands in front of the same federal court on the same charge and receives four-and-a-half years for extreme physical battery, and my sister receives 20 years,” Ian continued, referring to Sean "Diddy" Combs’ federal conviction on two prostitution-related charges in July.
Elsewhere in the interview, the businessman told The Telegraph, “There’s an argument here that feminists should really support Ghislaine because she is a woman who has been treated abysmally by the system.”
“But I believe my sister is on the right side of history,” he continued. “She’s now in the US equivalent of an open prison and I know she helps other prisoners with their legal cases. I genuinely believe that if she is released in response to her petition – and there’s still a chance that President Trump might respond to her plea for clemency – she would do something worthwhile.”
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Ghislaine is currently incarcerated at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison in Texas. She was moved there in July from a facility with a higher security designation.
Revealing that he speaks with his sister on the phone, Ian said that she has maintained a sense of humor.
"You can’t have this kind of experience and not turn it into something positive,” Ian told The Telegraph. “There’s an amazing book in it for a start. She wouldn’t live in the U.S., of course, but she also has a U.K. and a French passport. In fact, if any of us could have guessed what would happen, she would have flown to France at the outset because they don’t extradite their citizens.”
Ian confessed that he has a few frustrations as he and Ghislaine attempt to overturn her conviction.
“Within the latest release of the Epstein files are some exceptionally important documents from Ghislaine’s perspective, which entirely support her contention that she did not receive a fair trial,” Ian said, referring to the millions of files released amid the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s investigation into the late billionaire.
“But she has no access to a computer in prison, so she can’t read them,” he added of his sister. “Is it any wonder I’m angry?”
"Blood is always thicker than water,” the businessman then told The Telegraph. “The fact is she’s my kid sister and there’s no compassion for her, she needs to have someone on her side. That’s where family comes in.”
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Ian described himself as Ghislaine’s “de facto spokesman," and he said the rest of the convicted sex trafficker’s family is “all supporting her in various ways."
"Loyalty is very very strong in our family," he further explained.
In the same interview, Ian said that after meeting Epstein once, he could see how the late billionaire “reeled” his sister in. He also described Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein and the former Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, as a “monster.”
“I met Epstein once and my recollection of him was that he was clearly a very intelligent guy with a kind of dark charisma, but I wouldn’t describe him as clubbable,” Ian told The Telegraph. “He had a lot of money and was genuinely interested in science, technology and academia, which was a very familiar world to Ghislaine. I can see he could have reeled her in relatively quickly, and then when you are in that kind of world, it’s not so easy to walk away.”
As for Giuffre, who died by suicide at the age of 41 in April, Ian said, “I know who the monster is here and it’s not my sister, it’s Virginia Giuffre and her falsehoods that have had devastating ramifications for Ghislaine. I didn’t shed a tear when she died.”
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